HISTORICAL RETROSPECTIVE OF THE INTEGRATION IN NATO AND THE EUROPEAN UNION OF THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA

Abstract

The historical determination of the Republic of North Macedonia for integration into the collective systems, NATO and European Union is the highest national goal with strategic importance which lasts for about three decades. This paper aims to provide a detailed historical overview of our country's NATO integration path from becoming a part of Partnership for Peace to full membership of the Republic of North Macedonia in NATO, which will happen earliest at the forthcoming meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers of NATO in Brussels on 02nd and 03rd April 2020. Besides analyzing the work of NATO done so far and the forthcoming NATO activities in the field of dealing with military and non-military security threats and providing suggestions and methods for more effective dealing with the above mentioned modern security threats, one of the main point will be the implementation of a full membership of the Republic of North Macedonia as 30th NATO member state. The main hypothesis and also the focus of our paper will be: "Analysis of the integration path of our country in the European Union". This will be based on an analysis of the documents from strategic importance of the European Union and an analysis of the forthcoming new methodology for admission and status for becoming a full member state of the European Union. Our aim is to make a historical and comparative analysis of the European Union members from the region of Southeast Europe (the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Croatia), with the countries which are currently in process of launching accession negotiations with the European Union such as the Republic of North Macedonia and also with integration 40 process in EU of Southeast European countries, some of which already have candidate status (Albania, Montenegro, and Serbia). The final goal of this paper, based on an analysis from the reports of the European institutions and agencies, will give an overview of the possible dates on which the accession of the above-mentioned countries from the region of Southeast Europe to the EU will be realized, if they carry out all necessary reforms on the basis with forthcoming new methodology for accession to the European Union and given timeframe from the European Commission for implementing all necessary reforms for each Southeast European country aspiring for membership in the EU. Keywords: historical retrospective, integration, the Republic of North Macedonia, NATO, European Union